China To Add 100 Million New Telephone Users In 2005 - Government

SHANGHAI -(Dow Jones)- China expects to add about 100 million new telephone users this year to reach a total of 750 million users, the country's top industrial planner said.

At the end of October, the country had 732 million telephone users, of which 383 million were mobile users and 349 million were fixed-line, the National Development and Reform Commission said in a notice posted on its Web site.

China added 48.2 million new mobile users and 36.8 million fixed-line users in the January-October period, the NDRC said in the notice dated Monday.

China is an important market for telecom equipment makers as the country continues to attract millions of new users each year even as user growth rates in more mature markets such as the U.S. and Western Europe level off.

The NDRC forecast China's telecommunications industry revenue to grow 10.3% to about CNY582 billion this year from 2004, according to a separate notice.

In the first ten months, the telecom industry's revenue rose 11.6% from a year earlier to CNY480.80 billion, the commission said.

China's major telecom operators reported a combined pre-tax profit of CNY108.10 billion in the January-October period, 12.1% higher than a year earlier, the NDRC said.

Meanwhile, the telecom industry's' fixed-asset investment fell 10.5% to CNY139.30 billion in the first 10 months of this year from a year earlier.

China is expected to award licenses for 3G networks next year, and the subsequent construction of the country's 3G networks will potentially benefit telecom equipment vendors. 3G will provide high-speed data transmission through wireless networks that can deliver multimedia content to mobile phones and similar devices.

-By Jeff Meyer, Dow Jones Newswires; 8621 6120-1200; jeff.meyer@dowjones.com

-Edited by David Riordan

(END) Dow Jones Newswires "

Posted to the site on 14th December 2005